


A Changed Man

by espark



Category: Spells Swords & Stealth - Drew Hayes
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Gabric, NPCs - Freeform, Romance, Should have been in the book, Spoilers for Book 3 - Going Rogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 15:38:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14216340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/espark/pseuds/espark
Summary: As the mayor's daughter, Gabrielle had been out of Eric’s league, but that hadn’t stopped him from falling for her. Now, that they are fellow adventurers and best friends, what will it take for Eric to tell Gabrielle how he really feels?





	A Changed Man

Tired after a long day disarming poisonous traps, throwing daggers, and shooting a faulty crossbow at an impossibly small target, Eric was eager to see Gabrielle. He scanned the crowd of adventures in the common room, but didn’t see her lustrous blond hair or hear her fearless voice. He settled for a bowl of stew and a seat near the hearth.

As the mayor's daughter, Gabrielle had been out of Eric’s league, but that hadn’t stopped him from falling for her. She was gorgeous and proud and occasionally noticed him when he and the other town guards (mostly the other town guards) rescued her from the goblins. Then, when she became a barbarian, his feelings only grew stronger. Why, then, did she have to become his best friend?

At first, getting to spend more time with Gabrielle seemed like the silver lining to their perilous new mission. After shedding their former lives, they were both starting over from scratch. He could woo her as an equal. But once they formed a party with the others from Maplebark, there had been no opportunity to show her how he really felt. There was no privacy, no chance for romance. Just traveling, sleeping on the ground, and fighting monsters. 

He loved sparring with her. The physical exertion, dancing back and forth, anticipating each other’s movement, was a close to a romantic encounter as he could get. It also gave him an excuse to spend time in creek or pond to rinse off, in private. He might pretend it was her hands stroking him.

He sometimes fantasized about making a life with her, if they managed to survive their quest. Of course, they could never go back to Maplebark. When they took on the role of adventurers, they both knew there was no going back. And he couldn’t imaging either of them being content to settle down to farming or shopkeeping. Perhaps they could form a security outfit, escorting merchants or other travelers through dangerous lands. 

“You so hungry you couldn’t wait for company?” a familiar alto voice asked. A smile flashed across his face, but he tucked it away as quickly as it had appeared. He couldn’t have everyone seeing him grin at her like an idiot. 

“I’m so hungry I could eat wolf meat.” After weeks of subsisting on wolf meat before they came to Camnarael, neither of them ever wanted to see, fight, or eat wolf ever again.

Gabrielle cringed but sat down next to him. “Rogue training that hard, huh? I figured Elora might just cram you into a barrel and ask you to find your way out.”

He looked into Gabrielle’s sparkling eyes. The grin was creeping back onto Eric’s face, he couldn’t help it. “She’s teaching me things I didn’t know I didn’t know.” 

Gabrielle’s eyes flashed and she quipped, “That elf will stab you in the back as soon as look at you. You might buy her blood-debt, ‘secret rogue code’ shit, but I don’t trust her. If she so much as leaves a scratch on you during that shadow training fuckery, my axe will teach her some things she doesn’t know she doesn’t know.”

Gods. He loved it when she talked tough.

He glanced down at his bowl of stew, suddenly embarrassed. 

After a moment of awkward silence, Gabrielle asked, “Eric, what will you do once we’ve found the artifact? I mean. We can’t go back to Maplebark.”

It was like she had heard his earlier thoughts. He starred harder at this stew and decided to make some equivocal response. “I don’t know. It’s hard to think that far in the future. I guess I’ve just been focusing on the grand quest.” 

Her voice became unusually quiet. “Would you want to stay with Elora? You know, join the Shadows? It sounds like it’s been really good for you.”

Eric look up at her and saw the worry in her face. He put down his soup and took her hand. “Gabby, I would never abandon you or the others. I am with you, with everyone in the party, until we reach our goal or die trying.” 

The worry in her face eased and she held his hand, her grip tight and reassuring. That stupid grin snuck back onto one side of his mouth and he felt a tightness in his chest. Could he tell her more? His true feelings? That he would stay with her forever, if she would have him?

A movement from the shadows caught his attention. Eric pulled away from Gabrielle. Alert. He knew of only one person who could move like that - Elora. She was lingering at the back door, waiting for him. Which meant this was a test. 

“I’m sorry Gabrielle. It looks like I’m needed for more training.”

The barbarian spun around, scowling. “What? That shifty elf can’t let you have a break? By the gods, I’ll break her.”

“No, it's alright Gabby. I’ll see you, and the others, soon.”

***

A week later, they were almost at the end of the grand quest. Eric had thought of way to force his way past the magical pedestal, but he’d had to trick Gabrielle into turning over her cursed axe for it to work and then something had gone wrong.

The dragon’s treasure room swum around Eric’s head. There had been a horrible blast and he’d been knocked out. Another explosion rocked the room and Eric knew there was only one other person who could have used the axe on the pedestal

… “Gabby!” Eric leapt to his feet and scanned the area.

Where was she? Eric’s heart froze in place. Eric lurched over, waving his hands to clear the smoke out of the way. There she was, axe still tightly gripped in her hands.

Lifting her arm, he tested for a pulse, waiting for the reassuring throb in her veins to signal that it would be okay, that he only needed to pour a potion down her throat for everything to work out.  
Someone asked “How is she?” 

“She’s fine. She’s going to be fine. She’s... she’s Gabrielle the fucking barbarian.” He held tight to her hands, tears rolling down his face. “She’s killed demons and bandits and a priest of Kalzidar. Nothing keeps her down. Nothing stops her.”

Eric heard the shakiness in his voice, but he wasn’t able to calm it. All thoughts of control and training were gone. He gripped tighter, refusing to accept what was so plainly obvious.

“Eric... there’s no pulse.”

“She’s okay. She’s going to be okay,” Eric spat the words, as though saying them loud enough could make them true. 

“I’m so sorry, Eric. Gabrielle is dead. She gave her life to save us.” 

Eric didn’t have a response for that. His head simply fell forward onto Gabrielle’s body. Wordlessly, Eric wept. He’d lost his chance. He should have told her how how incredible she was, how much he loved her, how he could not go on without her. And then, something inside him, something he hadn’t even realized was there, snapped. Everything he’d been scared of, everything he’d been holding back, all of it gave way under the crushing thought of the task of laying Gabrielle to rest. “No.” His head rose, determined to change the rules.

“The laws of life and death are not so easily undone, not even for the gods,” Thistle said.

Eric glared with more anger than he’d thought himself capable of. “Because there’s some law of the universe that says so? We can animate gold into monsters, conjure items from nothingness, and bend the very existence of the world to our will, but Gabby has to die because someone, somewhere, made a rule that said so? Well, fuck that.”

Eric held both pieces of the artifact up, and directed all his fury at his foes. His face twisted unnaturally as unknown forces warred within him. At last, the enemies gone, his hands lowered and the power ebbed inside him.

“By the nine hells, what’s going on? Is Eric possessed or something? You all look like you’re ready to kick the shit out of him.” An alto voice rose from an area where there should have been only silence. 

Eric spun around to see Gabrielle climbing to her feet, looking more annoyed than injured. She looked around and realized something else was amiss. “What?” 

Eric dropped both pieces of the Bridge, threw his arms around Gabrielle. He held her like he would never let her go, until something dawned on him. “Gabby... you’re cold.” He pulled back and realized she looked different. Her skin was deathly pale, her hair was washed out, and there was a red tinge to her irises now, subtle enough to be missed but impossible to ignore once noticed. 

“Yeah, I feel a little different,” Gabrielle admitted. “Just didn’t think it was worth mentioning when I woke up to find everyone having a standoff.” 

Thistle walked over to her tentatively, reaching out and taking her wrist in his hand. He held it for nearly half a minute before releasing. “Gabrielle, I’m afraid you still have no pulse. While there will still need to be some tests to be positive, I’d say it’s almost certain that you’ve become one of the undead.” 

Eric didn’t care if she was undead, cursed, or a figment of someone’s imagination. All that mattered is that Gabrielle had returned to him and he wouldn’t waste another day keeping his feelings inside.

***

As soon as the party was back in Camnarael, Eric pulled Gabrielle aside.

“Gabrielle, I need to talk to you.”

He could see her start to say something flippant, but the serious look in his eyes made her change her mind. “Alright, I’m listening.” 

“Holding the Bridge, seeing you die, knowing all that I know now ... Gabby, I’m a changed man.” He began.

“You mean I’m a changed woman, being undead an all.” She looked sideways at him, unable to keep the sarcasm away for long.

He smiled, acknowledging her wit, but continuing, “Neither of us are one dimensional beings. You are more than just a barbarian. I am more than just a rogue. There is more to our lives than just finding some magical item and finishing a quest. We both deserve rich, full lives - lives with love.“

Her voice quivered, “Does this mean you and Elora…”

“I love you Gabrielle.”

She blinked in surprise, “But I’m undead…”

“I don’t care. I loved you back in Maplebark when you were just the Mayor’s daughter, I loved you when you were a novice Barbarian, and I will love you now that you are undead.” 

Then, she attacked him. Her mouth on his, her arms around his neck, her cold body pressed against his. After the surprise of her reaction faded, his body responded instinctively. He pulled her close and kissed her back. Her cold lips were hungry on his and heat spread through him.

She pulled back, catching her breath. “Now, we are going up to my room, stipping naked, and making up for lost time and Nine Hells take anyone who interrupts us.”

Gods, he loved it when she talked tough.

**Author's Note:**

> Does anyone else know of other fanfic for the Spells, Swords & Stealth series? I couldn't find any. Please leave me a note in the comments if you know of any. Thanks.


End file.
